18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 254

Jasper, who wanted to take his time and do a meticulous job, had no choice but to passively accept. "Alright, we'll cover the meals. We'll pay you a salary in provisions when the time comes. "Let's not spoil them," Austin warned, "They are under contract after all."

He called them over for a break and asked excitedly, "How do you plan to renovate the place?"

Stella shared her plans of reinforcing the outer walls, building a greenhouse on the rooftop and in the backyard to grow vegetables and raise chickens and ducks.

Austin nearly dropped his cigarette in surprise, "Everyone else is putting in swimming pools and you're planning a farm?"

"We've spent everything on this house, and we can't afford any extra luxuries," Stella said bluntly, "I can live without swimming, but I can't live without food."

Austin laughed heartily, "You've got the right idea. Growing your own food is way more practical. Once you're done, I'll take a leaf out of your book."

They were both savvy people, especially Stella. She was not one to be taken advantage of. Despite the struggles of the past three years, she was doing better than ever. So, following her lead was a no-brainer.

However, Austin was a bit hesitant about the idea of installing broken glass on top of the high walls, "Why bother? It's not enough security. I could get you some electric fencing instead."

Stella wasn't against simplifying things, but an electric fence around the entire property would require a lot of materials. After three years, those were not easy to come by.

But when it came to finding supplies, there were very few things Austin couldn't handle.

Stella smiled, "I'll leave it to you then, Austin."

and it wouldn't offer sufficient protection. They calculated the correct height and asked Austin for help, planning to barter the materials with food. Austin readily agreed, "Just let me know what else you need and I'll

most of what they needed, except for assembling

problem," Austin assured, "Rob knows his

decided to start cooking, "I'll whip up something for dinner. Don't expect anything

cooking before, Austin was looking forward to it. He rolled up his sleeves

beans with bacon, dried radishes with pork belly, dried cabbage salad, and a large pot of sweet potato leaves. Despite the simplicity of the

were blunt peasants with no sense of etiquette. They would scoop up a good amount of rice, grab a bunch of vegetables, and crouch down on the ground

eat till they were full at every meal. The food

could not cook. Most of the time, his crew cooked for him. Compared to Stella's cooking, it was

you've struck gold with Stella," Austin

"Indeed, I must've done something right in my past

the hard work done for the day, the crew packed up and headed to Austin's house to

were up and at it again in a few hours. Their efficiency astounded Stella and Jasper, and they had

the three-meter-high walls were up

was the renovation of the house itself. The walls needed a layer of plaster, which required three layers due to the thinness of the walls: a layer of cement mortar, a layer of mixed mortar, and a layer of white mortar for the surface. Each

in his early years. After the apocalypse, he latched onto Austin's coattails and became a middleman. He wasn't living in luxury, but compared to most survivors, he was doing quite well. So, here he was, going back to his old trade with confidence, directing Monkey and others

and started gesturing at Austin, "Boss, you're

respond. Instead, he hit the back of Shawn's head with a trowel,

wouldn't dare! Boss, take a break and have

to commit fully. If I

This group was working so fast that the two were constantly bringing in materials from outside. "Where did you get all these?" Even Austin was envious, "Can you help us source some so we can finish renovating the villa area? We'll split the profits." Stella laughed, "Austin, don't joke. It took us over six months to find all these materials. If it were that easy, we